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How would Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment react to their crown jewel missing the playoffs with a shot at home-ice advantage two weeks ago?

To borrow a phrase from their Toronto FC brethren: It’s a bloody big deal.

The Leafs aren’t at that stage yet, but Sunday’s game in New Jersey was another example of teams under the same scheduling adversity, or worse, finding a way to win.

Not only can’t Randy Carlyle’s squad beat the teams ahead of them during this untimely five-game losing streak, now the playoff also-rans are taking a bite out of them.

The 3-2 loss in New Jersey was another night of an inadequate start, compromised by a bad goal or two, creating too much of a deficit for the Leafs offence to overcome in one period.

“We have to find a way to stop the bleeding,” said Carlyle.

If there was any good news, it was Columbus dropping an afternoon game and then the Wild taking a point back from Detroit to keep the pair tied in wildcard standings.

Reimer rattled again

James Reimer has given up 15 goals in the four games since his relief win in L.A. Not all his fault, but the third Devils’ goal on Sunday was the right time for Carlyle to make the change he was probably tempted to make Saturday. In the past four games, the Leafs have trailed by two.

“Reimer is going through a game within the game,” Leafs TV analyst Greg Millen said of the off-ice distractions following him after Carlyle’s mild public critique of Reimer in a game last week almost went viral.

With a chance Sunday to praise Drew MacIntyre or even tell Reimer to keep his chin up, Carlyle snapped: “I’m not making any comments about goaltending.”

Clarkson comes home

Going from The Rock to a hard place, it has been a difficult change in scenery for David Clarkson. Finding a niche at the Air Canada Centre after so much success at the Prudential Center has proven hard, especially with everyone mentioning his slump and his big salary in the same sentence.

There were plenty of fan signage to welcome Clarkson back to the rink on Sunday, but he was still having trouble getting free to create offensive chances or be an impact physical presence. He wasn’t the only Leaf with ties to the Garden State to have a rough evening. Local product James van Riemsdyk had a few golden opportunities, including one late in the game as the Leafs came to life.

Got any change?

There have been some mistakes and awkward moments around the Leafs bench the past two nights. You could feel the tension after Montreal’s second goal on Saturday, but Carlyle didn’t call on MacIntyre to replace Reimer and got a better game out of him the rest of the way. Then came a too-many men call that hampered the Leafs’ comeback attempt.

On Sunday, after the Leafs tried to get Dave Bolland off the ice after putting him out for a draw, Morgan Rielly picked the wrong time to move up into the play. With Nazem Kadri not yet out to replace Bolland, it created a void that the Devils turned into a 2-on-1 and their opening goal.

Rielly was also the victim of a Jon Merrill stretch pass that made it 2-0 for Jersey, before the rookie defenceman redeemed himself with a great pass on Tyler Bozak’s goal.

Loose Leafs

Tyler Bozak continues to close in on a career-best 47 points with a goal on Sunday ... In Los Angeles last week when Jonathan Bernier was out, Reimer’s bell was rung and the Leafs faced the possibility of recruiting a third goalie, Carl Gunnarsson’s name came up. He once played net as a kid and though he wasn’t needed against the Kings, he was clutching a goal stick in the middle of a penalty kill in Newark. MacIntyre’s stick was lost behind the goal — a frequent problem with all Leafs goalies this year — and just as Gunnarsson retrieved it, he had to drop it when the play came in Toronto’s zone and he faced a penalty ... Realist Jaromir Jagr knows why the Devils are in the rare position of facing a second year out of the playoffs. “We did it to ourselves,” the 42-year-old said. “You make mistakes early in the season and you pay for it now.” ... All four games against the three New York-area teams for the Leafs ended closely this season, three losses by overtime (Long Island), shootout (MSG) and one-goal regulation (Devils). The Leafs also won a shootout against the Rangers.